Main navigation

Day 12 of 365 Photo Challenge-A Shakespearean sickness

March 6, 2017

Okay not really, but really did you want the photo of the day to be of a toilet bowl? Sickness has taken over the house and it’s been a long road of ill health. I’d like to think of it as a “spring cleaning” of sorts as a final farewell to the long winter that has overstayed its welcome here in Seattle. It reminds me of a sonnet by Shakespeare and his take on sickness:

Like as, to make our appetites more keen,
With eager compounds we our palate urge;
As, to prevent our maladies unseen,
We sicken to shun sickness when we purge;
Even so, being full of your ne’er-cloying sweetness,
To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding;
And sick of welfare found a kind of meetness
To be diseas’d, ere that there was true needing.
Thus policy in love, to anticipate
The ills that were not, grew to faults assured,
And brought to medicine a healthful state,
Which, rank of goodness, would by ill be cured:But thence I learn, and find the lesson true,Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you.

I am not sure that the nasty bug that hit our house would be said as romantically as his words but I think he actually was speaking of multiple “sicknesses” of sorts. In the most literal sense, he is talking about the nasty, gut wrenching, in bed all day sort of sickness that we each experience from time to time. On a deeper level though, I believe he is speaking of the cleansing of the palate which I interpret on a broader sense to mean to open our eyes and our minds to new experiences, new places, and of course new foods. It is this take away that I like to focus on, especially when recovering from feeling ill. While illness can be agonizing, the recovery can be a sort of reset for your body to start new. Maybe take up a new hobby, maybe commit to going for a walk every day, maybe eat cleaner. I know for me and my illness, watching what I eat has become a priority so it’s given me a chance to really reboot my system in that way.

As I leave tomorrow, I am reminded how much love surrounds me and how thankful I am for such a good support system. I am blessed beyond measure to have a husband to help hold down the fort while mama is sick in bed. I am thankful for good friends and family who check on me daily and uplift me with their positive spirit. Be blessed.